


A Night Not Easily Forgotten

by MyQueenMakotoChan



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Awkward Romance, F/F, Lesbian Niijima Makoto, Lesbian Takamaki Ann, Romance, Sweet, Yuri, embarrassed Makoto Niijima
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26640976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyQueenMakotoChan/pseuds/MyQueenMakotoChan
Summary: Tired of holding her feelings inside, Ann decides to splurge on a night to try and woo her best friend.
Relationships: Niijima Makoto & Takamaki Ann, Niijima Makoto/Takamaki Ann
Comments: 1
Kudos: 47





	A Night Not Easily Forgotten

**Author's Note:**

> This is a much longer fic than my last one, but I hope you enjoy!  
> I have a few ideas for new pieces, including one big one as well as a sequel to this one, so stay tuned for those!

“And… Done! Great work as always Takamaki-san, see you next week!”

Ann let out a heavy sigh as the crowd of photographers around her dispersed, and the harsh and hot lights blanketing her finally turned off. With a triumphant grunt, she slid off the heavy jacket she had been wearing for this fashion shoot and handed it to one of the photographers nearby before finally stretching and yawning.

“Geez, did they have to go extra long on a day like today, it’s like, so nice out…”

Ann mumbled to herself as she went to retrieve her bag, before remembering that today wasn’t just an ordinary day, she had a special something waiting for her after this shoot! However, her mood dropped slightly when she realized that this ‘special something’ would probably be a bit mad at just how long the photoshoot had gone. As Ann rounded the final corner of the gallery’s circuitous hallways, she couldn’t help but smile. Sitting on a plastic chair, with a notebook on her lap, was Makoto Niijima, dear friend and fellow Phantom Thief. Evidently, whatever Makoto was working on in her notebook was challenging her, because she was idly nibbling on the back of her pen while her brow was furrowed in intense concentration. A slightly devilish idea popped into Ann’s head, and she decided to execute it as she began creeping down the hall, trying to make her footsteps as light as possible. Thanks to her time spent sneaking around in palaces, this was a simple task, and Ann was able to approach Makoto’s position without drawing the brown-haired girl’s attention. A smile formed on Ann’s lips as she enacted the second part of her plan by quietly leaning in, getting her mouth close to Makoto’s ear, and…

“….  _ Boo! _ ”

The reaction that her prank elicited was more than Ann could have ever hoped for. As soon as the small word passed from her lips, Makoto tensed up, and practically leapt up from her seat, a shriek flying from her mouth. However, this is where Ann’s plan took an unexpected turn, as opposed to being simply scared, like she was when the Phantom Thieves were infiltrating Boss’ house, Makoto turned around and… slapped Ann’s cheek, and not with an insignificant amount of force! With the loud smacking of skin hanging in the air, both of the girls looked at each other with shock in their eyes, although Makoto was more scared to the bone than shocked. The pain began registering on Ann’s face just as Makoto realized what she’d just done, and her scared look became one of horror!

“A-Ann!”

“Ow…”

Makoto quickly leaned back in, looking desperate to make sure that she hadn’t committed a grave error.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t realize it was you!”

Seeing Makoto in a panic like this is definitely not what Ann had in mind, so she had to consider this planned prank a big failure.

“D-don’t worry about it, it’s my fault for trying to scare you like that, sorry…”

Ann tenderly reached up to her face to touch the recently slapped area, but quickly pulled her fingers away, even that small touch still showing it was going to be a while before it went back to normal. Seeing this only made Makoto feel even more guilty, and she let out a small whine of guilt.

“I’m truly sorry, I never meant to hurt you…”

Now Ann felt  _ really _ stupid for this plan, because now Makoto was looking sad! She quickly shook her head, and gave Makoto a big smile and a thumbs up.

“Don’t you worry Makoto, it’s A-okay! Don’t you worry!”

Ann held that pose for a moment, and it seemed to have its intended effect of calming Makoto down, so she brought her hand around to the back of her neck to scratch it.

“Sorry about making you wait so long Makoto, they totally didn’t tell me it was going to go this long today! They just kept asking for shot after shot after shot…”

Makoto shook her head in response, “It’s quite alright, I did not mind waiting, I was creating a study guide for our upcoming History test. By the way…” Makoto began reaching down to grab the notebook and pen she’d dropped and put them back into her bag.

“You still haven’t told me why you wanted me here today Ann.”

Ann had gotten so caught up in her miniature prank plan that she’d totally forgotten about her BIG plan for the night! She couldn’t resist a little laugh before winking at Makoto.

“About that… how about we go grab something to eat first? My treat?”

A sensation momentarily fluttered in Makoto’s chest at this wink, but she slowly nodded in affirmation.

“I don’t have any other plans today, so that would be fine…”

She could sense that there was something deeper behind what Ann was doing, but also knew that her friend wouldn’t do something like this without a good reason, so she had no reason to doubt her intentions. Ann beamed once she heard Makoto’s response, and threw her hand up in the air in excitement!

“Woohoo! Awesome! I’ll go get changed and we can head out, be right back!”

Ann quickly grabbed the bag that she’d left with Makoto when she came to this shoot, and hurried to the changing room, not wanting to lose a second of the night that she had planned. With Ann gone for another few moments, Makoto sat back down to let her heart recover from what had happened just a minute prior. She still felt a small twinge of regret for so brazenly smacking Ann, but steadied herself by knowing that it was an accident, and at the heart of the matter, it was Ann’s fault for catching her off guard like that. Thinking about this day as a whole, Makoto was still a bit confused as to just what was going on. Earlier that week, Ann had asked if Makoto was free on their day off, and if she wanted to hang out. Happy to spend time with her lowerclassmen friend, Makoto was quick to agree, and Ann seemed extremely excited to have her invitation accepted. Ann did quickly add the caveat that she’d have to do a photo shoot early in that day, but after that she had a great plan! Evidently, the shoot being ‘early’ in the day had dragged on later than either of them were anticipating, but it seemed Ann was still intent on making the most of this day, whatever was left of it that is. Soon, Ann came jogging out of the changing room, a smile on her face as bright as when she went in.

“Sorry for the wait~! Come on, if we don’t hurry, we’re going to be late!”

“Late? Late for wh-“

Before Makoto could finish her question, Ann reached down and grabbed Makoto’s hand, smiled back at her, and began to quickly jog towards the exit! Makoto nearly lost her balance at this sudden acceleration and placed a hand on the strap of her bag to make sure it didn’t fly off her shoulder.

“Ann, slow down! Where are we going?!”

Ann’s response was a simple one, as when they finally reached the exit door, she turned around and winked at Makoto again.

“Keep up, okay? Just trust me on this, it’s going to be great!”

The confidence radiating from Ann, combined with the double attack of Ann’s smile and wink, made Makoto’s cheeks tint red, and she nodded her head in agreement. With that simple signal, Ann smiled even wider, and pushed open the door, hand still tightly holding Makoto’s, and began their dash to the next destination of the night!

Makoto was entirely clueless as to where they could be going, but Ann seemed to know exactly where they were headed, and continued pulling Makoto along until they finally stopped in front of a large building. Both of them took a minute to catch their breath, but once Ann had recovered, she threw her hands in the air and beamed at Makoto. 

“Ta-daa!” 

As Makoto raised her head, she had to bring up a hand to cover her eyes from the bright lights inside, and aimed her gaze at a big red sign. 

“The… Cake Factory?”

Ann nodded enthusiastically, “Yep!”

“Isn’t… this supposed to be extremely exclusive, with months long waiting lists…?!” 

Ann nodded again, her smile growing even more, “That’s right!”

“But… how?! And… Why am I here…?” 

“My work got me a special reservation as a present, and they said I could bring one guest, so I chose you!” 

In actuality… that was a lie. Ann’s agency did pay her well, but even these sorts of reservations were fairly exclusive. She had booked it many months ago just because she’d been dying to try out their selection of sweets, and she reserved it for two, just in case she found someone she wanted to go with. As the time drew closer, she considered all of her different options carefully: She could go with Ryuji, but the high class sweets would probably be lost on him; She wouldn’t have minded coming with Akira… She ran through all of her friends in her head, before she finally landed on Makoto! Since she had joined the Phantom Thieves, Ann and Makoto had grown quite close. After dealing with Kamoshida, Makoto was extremely critical of herself, and chastised herself for her lack of ability to help out the many students who had fallen victim to the evil man, and it was Ann who stepped in and consoled her in that moment. That moment truly was the spark of their friendship, and from there, Ann began inviting Makoto more and more frequently, Makoto began to help out Ann with studying, and before she knew it… seeing Makoto made Ann’s chest feel funny. Talking to Makoto made her smile more than usual. Not being with Makoto… felt a bit more alone than usual. Of course, Ann never said anything about these feelings, and to outside observers, nothing seemed any different. However, if Ann had learned anything from her time with the Phantom Thieves, it’s that bottled up feelings never end well for anyone, and after awakening to her persona, Ann realized that she was done being scared of facing the things that she really cared about - tonight, she was going to tell Makoto show she felt! Her time with the Phantom Thieves had also taught her that Makoto looked great in skintight clothing, though maybe… she’d keep that to herself for now.

Makoto was still very anxious about being here right now, she felt incredibly out of place, and now felt bad that Ann would use up such a luxurious opportunity on her!

“Ann, you truly did not need to bring me here, surely there are others who would enjoy this more…”

To silence these doubtful words, Ann leaned forward, and placed a finger over Makoto’s lips. 

“I’m sure that there are loads of other models who would have loved to come and eat here!”

“Then wh-”

“ _ But _ … None of them are nearly as interesting as you Makoto~”

In response to this, Makoto’s cheeks became tinged with red, and her chest began to feel… very strange. 

“Oh and…” Ann slyly winked, “They’re not my best friend~”

“Ann…” Makoto’s cheeks filled with more red as she averted her gaze from Ann, her mind and heart feeling extremely unusual.

Of course Shiho was still Ann’s dear friend, but after moving away earlier this year because of the incident regarding Kamoshida, they’d found fewer and fewer times to talk. Since getting to Shujin, Shiho had been the person Ann could trust with anything, she was the only one who truly understood her, and losing her to fate outside of her control hurt, it hurt  _ alot _ . After they’d said goodbye on the Shujin rooftop, Ann went home and cried for almost the whole night. Unbeknownst to her, Akira had actually texted Makoto that night and gave her a bit of a rundown on the situation, since he knew that the two were close. The day after that, Makoto called up Ann, trying to be as discreet as possible, and invited her out to go shopping, saying it was her repaying Ann for all of the times she had done the same. Ann still sounded slightly rough on the phone, which broke Makoto’s heart, but thankfully she accepted, and the two had an amazing day. Before parting ways at the end of the day, Makoto presented Ann with a red scarf, the very same red scarf she was wearing now. Everytime Ann saw that scarf, she thought back to the pain that she had felt the night Shiho left, about the pain she felt when her life was trapped under Kamoshida’s thumb, but then thought about how much she had grown since then, how her pain had helped her become the person that she wanted to be, and most importantly, she thought about the person who gave it to her, and the smile on her face when Ann received it. Ann thought about Makoto… alot, but Makoto’s face in that moment, filled with genuine happiness, relief, and compassion, was burned into Ann’s memory.

Despite Makoto’s slight resistance, Ann reached for Makoto’s hand again and took it, guiding her inside the building, where the glamor seen from the outside didn’t do justice to the inside decor. Everything about it screamed high class, from the ambiance to the way the waiters were dressed, and such a high class atmosphere once again made Makoto feel even less like she belonged. Ann confidently strode up to the hostess and smiled.

“Hi, reservation for 2 for Takamaki? It should be at 6 P.M!” 

The hostess gave a rather condescending look to Ann. 

“This is a refined establishment, are you sure someone of your age is even allowed out at this hour?”

It had been quite some time since either of the girls had seen such a rude display, and Ann was quick to go on the defensive, taking a step towards the hostess. 

“ _ Excuse _ me? You didn’t even look at the list of reservations!”

The hostess rolled her eyes, but obliged the blonde girl, looking down at her list, and then slowly looking up, face showing a large degree of annoyance. 

“... Yes, it is there. Your parents must have paid quite a hefty sum for you and your... little friend to get such exclusive seats.”

Ann stepped closer to the stand once again, a fierceness burning behind her eyes.

“ _ I _ paid for those seats, I’ll have you know, using  _ my _ money I  _ earned _ from working, and I booked them months ago, the same as anyone else! Oh, and do  _ not _ insult my friend, understand? Now, we’d like to be taken to our seat please.”

Ann’s speech had drawn the attention of those who were sitting near the entrance, those onlookers growing quiet as they watched to see how this scenario would progress. Under the harsh eyes of the guest, as well as Ann’s intensity, the hostess finally conceded, slowly grabbing two menus, and beginning to walk further into the restaurant. 

“... Right this way.”

Although she seemed very confident in the moment, Ann found her hands shaking from the experience, and let out a shaky breath once the hostess began walking. With a weak smile, she turned to Makoto to head in, but her heart froze for a moment when she saw that Makoto had a very… hard to read look on her face. 

“M-Makoto…?”

The other girl was already beginning to follow the hostess before Ann could say anymore, simply saying, “Let’s go.” 

Although the night had been going fine up until a moment ago, Ann’s mind now raced with doubts, wondering what she’d done wrong, and what exactly… Makoto was going to say when they eventually sat down. She followed behind her companion silently, trying to ignore the eyes fixed on them as they went to the back of the restaurant, finally stopping when they came to the back wall, and the hostess opened a door to a private room. Makoto was the first inside, and took a seat at the two person table, a table which was fully set for a romantic evening, complete with a candle and a rose atop it. Ann was embarrassed out of her mind, this was  _ totally _ not the sort of setting she wanted to be in right now… Nevertheless, she had no choice but to sit down and pull her chair up while the hostess placed a menu in front of each of them before returning to stand in the door. 

“Please ring the bell when you are ready to order.”

With that, she closed the door, and the two students were left alone in dead silence.

This silence was completely unbearable for Ann. She tightly gripped the hem of her jacket and fixated her eyes on her legs, unable to make eye-contact with the girl across the table, and she was worried that Makoto could hear every thought running loudly through her head and every beat of her thumping heart. Each second that passed in the silence, Ann felt her anxiety growing and more powerful, and it wasn’t long before she couldn’t take it anymore, and had to say something.

Lifting her head, she leaned forward slightly, and began speaking, “Mak-”

“Why are we here tonight Ann?”

Makoto’s face was much softer than it was while they were standing in front of the hostess, and her voice was steady, but Ann could detect a hint of the warble that showed up when she was nervous. The burst of confidence she had felt faded away as quickly as it came, and Ann sank back into her seat, gripping her jacket tightly again. 

“W-Well…”

“I apologize for snooping, but your bag fell over earlier, and a few items fell out, including… a letter, and a bag of chocolates. I didn’t look at the letter, don’t worry, and I initially thought you had simply received them for someone else but… they’re for me, right?”

Ann bit her lip hard, and her heart thumped harder and harder, especially now that her plan was falling apart.

“Additionally, it seems that you lied about receiving this reservation from your work. I… hesitate to read into this situation while uninformed so… could you please explain?” 

As Ann looked up, she could see that Makoto’s face had grown red, and her gaze was fixed on the table in front of her, trying to avoid Ann’s gaze as well. Upon seeing this, Ann suddenly felt her doubts melt away, and her resolve steeled itself - there was no turning back now. Scooting her chair forward, Ann breathed in deeply, and rested her arms on the table. 

“So, this is totally not how I wanted this to go, but um… here we go…”

Ann reached forwards, and tentatively placed her hand on the hand Makoto had on the table. This elicited an audible gasp of surprise from the brunette, and caused her to look up, her red eyes meeting Ann’s intense blue eyes. Seeing those beautiful red eyes, Ann’s lips gave her a warm smile, and she began feeling even more sure about her decision.

“I lied about the reservations because… I was embarrassed… I’ve wanted to come here for a really long time, and I decided to reserve a room a few months ago, but I couldn’t figure out who to go with, and um… once I decided I wanted to go with you, I asked them to upgrade it to the… romantic package…”

Makoto’s eyes widened at those last two words, and she felt her chest tightening up, while her heart started beating faster.

“Y-You mean…?”

“You were right, those chocolates and the letter… are for you. I couldn’t remember what kind of chocolates you liked, so I had to spitball a bit…”

“But… Why? I don’t underst-”

Ann knew there was absolutely no turning back once she replied, but she knew that regardless of the answer, she  _ had _ to say it, if nothing more than to selfishly lift this heavy weight off her shoulders. 

“Because I love you.”

When those 4 words were confidently said, emotion washed over Makoto’s face as she whimpered and lowered her head, and the room returned to its pristine silence. Initially, Ann figured this was just a second to figure out how to respond, but as the small moment of silence turned into a much longer moment of silence, she began to get worried, and doubt started eating at the edges of her thoughts.

_ Did I do something wrong? Does she not like me that way?! _

As these thoughts raced through her mind, her ears picked up on a quiet sound, and as she focused on the world around her again, she realized… it was the sound of Makoto crying! Panic began to rise in her again, and she was REALLY worried she’d done something wrong now!

“H-Hey, d-don’t cry Makoto, please..!”

Makoto withdrew her hand out from underneath Ann’s, and now Ann was  _ sure _ that she’d messed up. However, the hand withdrew to Makoto’s face, where it looked like she was rubbing something, and after that, Makoto finally raised her head… and a brilliant smile was on her lips. 

“My apologies, I just… I don’t know how to respond…”

This was sending Ann… very mixed signals.

“I-If you want to say no, w-we can still be friends, I-I hope…”

However, Makoto quickly shook her head as a slight bit of panic filled her face, “No, that’s not it!”

The older student took a moment to rub her face again, making sure to dry all of the wetness around her eyes, before she sat up straight and looked at Ann again, this time taking her hands and wrapping them around Ann’s. 

“Ann, I… I feel the same way… With everything that has happened in the past months, I do not know what I’d do without you. You’ve shown me what it means to value myself, you’ve helped expand my narrow horizons on the world to places I never thought possible, but most of all… you’ve become someone that I cannot see a future without.”

Internally, Ann was breathing a huge sigh of relief at the fact that she wasn’t being rejected, and it took a moment for her to realize that not only was she not being rejected, she was being accepted! When Makoto touched her hand, it felt like her whole body might explode from how that made her feel. 

“I… I’m so glad…!”

Ann couldn’t think of anything more to say, and found her vision getting cloudy as tears of happiness began welling in the corners of her eyes. Using her free hand, she wiped the tears with the back of her wrist, and laughed a little.

“I didn’t really expect to get this far so… I’m kinda outta surprises…”

Makoto’s hands squeezed Ann’s, and she let out a similar laugh in response. 

“Perhaps you could give me that letter you wrote?”

Somehow, Ann was hoping Makoto would forget about the letter, and felt a wave of embarrassment. 

“N-Nah, you don’t have to see that! It’s super cheesy and stuff…”

In truth, Ann had spent 3 sleepless nights trying to figure out the proper way to capture her feelings in a letter, and she was really proud of it, but now that she was here, the prospect of actually giving it to Makoto seemed entirely too much. Such a cute reaction made Makoto laugh a bit more, and she felt… so happy, happier than she ever had!

“Perhaps you can give it to me later than, as well as those chocolates. In the meantime, shall we order something? I must say that I worked up quite an appetite running all the way here.”

When Makoto said this, Ann suddenly remembered the reason she’d made these reservations in the first place, to eat the food!

“You’re totally right!”

Out of instinct, she pulled her hand from Makoto’s, but it felt… wrong. The lack of warmth around her hand didn’t feel right, and this was definitely a new feeling. 

“Oh, sorry…”

“No, it’s fine, I’m sure we’ll each need both hands to look at the menu…”

There was silence for another moment, before Ann began to laugh alot!

“Geez, we’re really bad at this couple stuff, aren’t we?”

A wide grin formed on Makoto’s lips as she heard Ann refer to them as a couple.

“I suppose so. However, we will have quite a long time to perfect it, and I expect you to be willing to practice often, alright?”

A warmth filled Ann’s chest that made her feel like she could do anything, and that no matter what happened, as long as she could be with Makoto, everything would be A-okay. She nodded her head firmly in response.

“We’ll practice this stuff until we make all the other couples jealous with how good we are!”

“I don’t know if we need to go  _ that _ far… but I can’t say I’m entirely against the idea.”

Ann picked up the menu and her mouth almost instantly began to water,

“It all looks so good! They apparently have 30 different kinds of cakes, and they’re all supposed to be amazing! Oh, that reminds me! With this reservation, all the food is covered, it’s all you can eat, so go crazy!”

Makoto looked a bit suspicious, “Ann, just how much did you pay for this reservation?”

A slightly pained laugh escaped Ann.

“Let’s… just not worry about that for now, ‘kay? We’re here, and we’re going to enjoy it!”

Makoto let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head, “If you insist, but please, don’t break your bank for something like this again…”

Makoto picked up the menu and began to browse it as well, quite impressed with the selection that was available. However, while Makoto was more interested in the dinner food they had, it seemed as if Ann had a one-track mind for dessert. 

“I can’t decide what to choose! The white chocolate looks so good, but the strawberry looks way too delicious, I want them all! That’s it, I’m going to get a slice of each one of them!”

After they both decided what they were ordering, with Makoto’s order being much more sensible than Ann’s, Ann rang the bell the hostess had indicated, and a moment later a waiter appeared and came to take their order. Despite a very annoyed look at Ann’s order, the waiter wrote down everything before leaving the two alone again, but this time, the silence in the room was comfortable, and neither of them felt the tension which was present when they first entered. Makoto laid one of her hands onto the table, and Ann did the same, placing her hand onto Makoto's, who then slid her hand up to interlock their fingers, instantly returning Ann’s heart to a frenzied beat. Seeing this embarrassed side of Ann made Makoto feel similarly, and she gently squeezed their hands together as she broke the silence. 

“So, Ann, how long have you… had these feelings?”

“Um… like… I don’t really know, actually… I kinda just realized that I wanted to be with you one day? I know that sounds kinda lame, but when I thought about the fact that you’re graduating soon, I realized that… I… I couldn’t let you leave without telling you how I felt, I don’t want to lose you…” 

Ann’s voice got very somber, and she quickly let out an awkward laugh, “Sorry, I know that probably sounds totally selfish of me…”

Makoto, however, squeezed Ann’s hand tightly in response, causing the blonde to look up at her partner with surprise. 

“Ann, it’s not selfish at all. To tell you the truth, when I also thought about my future, I felt pangs of sadness about not being able to see the rest of our friends, but thinking about you made me especially sad, although at the time, I couldn’t process why. Looking at it now though, I believe that those feelings stemmed from unprocessed… love.”

Saying the word love for the first time in a context like that made Makoto feel very funny, but it felt very  _ right _ at the same time. It was then that an idea came to her, an idea that she wished she had thought of earlier.

“Do you recall how I said that I was planning on buying a motorcycle and taking a trip after I graduate?”

“Uh… yeah, I think so, why?”

“I’d like you to… come with me.”

“W-What?!”

Ann began blushing violently, she was already being asked on another date while she was still stressing about the first date!

“B-But that’s like…”

“... So you don’t want to come…?”

“W-Wait, that’s not what I said! I totally do want to come just… ugh, you’re way too good at this Makoto…”

The other girl was very confused by what Ann was saying, but decided to focus on the acceptance of her offer.

“I promise that I will be as safe as possible, I will still need to get my license anyways. Perhaps… we could go shopping for helmets and safety equipment together?”

Ann nodded her head, but her cheeks remained a rosy red.

“That… That sounds really fun, so… yeah, let’s do it!”

With that decision made, the girls began more happy idle chit-chat, and in their private room, time didn’t seem to matter, they could have kept talking in there forever and been content. Eventually though, there was a knock on the door, and a line of waiters carrying plates of food stepped inside, placing small tables against the walls of the room that had plate after plate of cake slices! Meanwhile, there was one waiter who came to Makoto’s side and placed a single plate in front of her, containing her Truffle Chicken, salad, and single piece of White Chocolate cake. Ann’s eyes were as wide as one of the plates in front of her as she eyed up the selection of sweets she had ordered, and once the wait staff left the room, she was unable to contain her excitement. 

“Oh. My. Gosh. These all look SO good! Which one do I even try first…”

Eventually, Ann settled upon a piece of cake that looked like it took an entire bag of chocolate to make. Before she picked up the plate, it dawned on her that she had forgotten to do something super important! Reaching into the bag dangling over her chair, she pulled out her phone, opened up her camera app, and began taking pictures of all of the cakes she’d ordered, before grabbing the plate with her chocolate cake, and scooted over next to Makoto, who was confused by whatever Ann was doing and grew even more confused when Ann placed her plate next to hers. 

“Um… Ann? What are you doing?” 

Ann was adjusting the placements of the place, as well as her hair, before she smiled and looked at Makoto.

“Smile for the camera!”

She then leaned into Makoto, having their shoulders touch as she put up a peace sign with her free hand, and took a picture, making sure to capture both of them and the food. Makoto was not usually photogenic, but was even less so when taken by surprise, She barely had time to comprehend Ann’s words before the picture was taken, leaving an awkward smile on her face in the picture. When Ann viewed the picture she’d just taken,Makoto glanced at it and winced, “Please tell me you don’t intend on posting that…”

“Aww, come on, you look cute! Pleaseeeeee?”

Makoto really didn’t know how to feel about her image being shared, and especially one such as that, but… she found it hard to argue with Ann, so she reluctantly nodded. This is when Ann decided to tease her companion, raising the camera once again as she placed a quick kiss on Makoto’s cheek and took a picture. The kissed girl was caught completely off guard, and her cheeks instantly grew to the reddest they’d ever been, and her heart flew into her throat.

“A-A-A-Ann?! W-W-What did you just- w-why did you?!?!”

Makoto was a complete mess, and while the reaction was a bit more than what Ann had expected, she was still quite satisfied with her work. As she looked at the picture she’d just taken with a smile, she pressed a few buttons, and set that image as her new wallpaper before setting her phone down and looking towards her malfunctioning companion. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t share that one~ That was just something that I’ve been… really wanting to do for a while now, so I hope you didn’t mind… too much~”

The girl had still not recovered, and gripped tightly to the hem of her skirt as her mind raced with every sort of thought, mostly about how she was still in shock that something like that just happened to her. While she still couldn’t look Ann in the eyes, or even anywhere close to Ann for fear that her heart may burst, she hesitantly reached out her left hand, fumbling it around in the air in search of Ann’s hand. When the model raised her hand and clasped it within Makoto’s, the reaction was the exact  _ opposite _ of what Makoto had hoped for, and instead of helping to calm her down, it simply made her heart race all over again! Makoto was totally overwhelmed, and Ann happily stayed in that hand clasped position for a while while Makoto silently worked through all of her emotions. That is, Ann stayed like that, until her stomach loudy made its hunger known, and she had to awkwardly say something.

“Um… are you feeling better…?”

Makoto took a long breath and sat back up, finally looking at Ann with an apologetic smile.

“Yes, I am. I’m sorry for… reacting in such a way to that…” 

Giving a squeeze to Ann’s hand, she continued.

“I reacted in such a fashion because… that made me feel things I never have before… and I’d like to grow more… comfortable with such a feeling, if that’s alright with you…?”

Ann’s mouth was stretched into a beaming and comforting smile, as she returned Makoto’s squeeze.

“You bet! I’ll make you feel that way allll the time! We could even do it aga-”

_ GRWWWWWWWRRH _

…

“... B-But maybe after we eat…?”

Ann’s stomach made its voice known again, and the girls both giggled at its immaculate timing. As Ann tried to stand up to go back to her side of the table, she felt Makoto’s hand tighten around hers, and upon looking back, noticed an almost sad look upon the brunette’s face. 

“Would it be possible for… you to eat here, next to me..?”

Obviously she couldn’t deny this request, so Ann nodded, and sat back down, placing her plate on her lap.

“Anything for you… my Queen~”

Although Makoto was completely used to being called Queen by the Phantom Thieves, the addition of “my” in front of it completely changed the connotation, and sent her back into a small panic of emotions. Ann decided that she should  _ probably _ stop teasing Makoto, or else they might end up being at the restaurant all night. The two chatted more as they ate, and never separated from one another’s side, except when Ann had to get up and get more pieces of cake. 

Once they had both eaten their fill, they each let out a sigh of satisfaction.

“I want to try more cakes, but if I have anymore I think I might explode…”

“Moderation is important, you know. I do know what you mean though, the one piece of cake I had gave me a dangerous temptation for more…”

“How about I get to-go boxes for the rest of the cake and we can share them later?”

“That sounds wonderful Ann, I’d love to.”

Ann got up, rang the bell, and when the wait staff came in a moment later, she explained her request, and was once again met with begrudging compliance, all of the leftover cake being taken out to soon be returned in boxes. Ann went and sat back down once this was down, and was extremely surprised when Makoto suddenly leaned her head onto Ann’s shoulder! 

“Thank you for everything tonight Ann, it has been… indescribably amazing.”

“Y-Yeah, of course Makoto… You only deserve the best after all…”

Makoto smiled gently, and closed her eyes slowly as she interlocked her hand into Ann’s once more, a feeling that she had quickly become addicted to. Ann accepted the hand with no resistance, but she squeezed her free hand tightly in anticipation. 

“Actually, um, I was hoping we could stop by one more place tonight, if you’re free..?”

Makoto’s eyes opened as she peered at Ann’s face with confusion, “I think I could make time, yes… is this a surprise too?”

“S-Sorta… um, come on, let’s get going…!”

She was regretful that she had to leave this position with Makoto, as it made her heart feel very warm, but she was hoping she could enact the last part of her plan, even if she had to move things around. She went to her side of the table and picked up all her belongings while Makoto did the same. Once they had gathered everything, Ann grabbed the bag of to-go boxes they had conveniently been supplied, and held the door for Makoto as they left. The rest of the restaurant had grown quite quiet and empty since the two had entered - clearly they’d spent alot of time in each other’s company. 

Stepping outside of the restaurant brought Ann’s hopes crashing down as before their eyes was a torrent of rain. 

“No…”

“Is something wrong Ann?”

“We totally can’t go to the place I wanted in this weather…”

Ann then looked in her bag, and let out a groan.

“And I didn’t bring an umbrella, great!”

Her attention was soon drawn to the sound of a mechanical click as the light of the awning they were standing under suddenly dimmed, and Ann looked up to see a black fabric above. Looking to her side, she saw Makoto looking at her with a smile, and in her hand was… an umbrella!

“I checked the weather report this morning and it said there was a chance that there would be storms this evening, looks like they were right.”

This definitely lightened Ann’s mood, but she was still discouraged that her plan couldn’t work.

“That’s great, but we still can’t really do anything else in this weather, even with an umbrella…”

“Maybe… we could go to your house…?”

Ann looked at Makoto in shock, she couldn’t possibly be insinuating  _ that _ tonight, right?!

“It is close by… If you’re okay going there, that’s… fine! … I forgot to clean today though, so… sorry…”

Makoto shook her head with a smile, and stepped closer to Ann, holding the umbrella between them.

“This isn’t a very large umbrella, so we will have to remain close to avoid getting wet, I hope that’s okay. Would you care to lead the way?”

“S-Sure…”

Whenever Makoto was assertive like this, it made Ann’s heart skip a few beats. She stepped close to Makoto, making sure to hold the bag of cakes close so they would stay dry, before she began directing them to her apartment, which was only a few blocks away. Despite the walk being short, and having an umbrella, they were still  _ soaked _ by the time they walked into Ann’s apartment.

“It really opened up out there, that sucked…”

Ann heavily sighed as she put down the bag of cakes and began to remove her wet jacket, while Makoto shivered and put away the umbrella before removing her own jacket. Ann darted over to her thermostat once she was free of most of her wet attire, and quickly turned up the heat before turning on a few lights and rubbing her arms to try and get warm. 

“H-How are you holding up Makoto?”

“A-As you said a moment ago, that was… not pleasant…”

Seeing as they were both miserable in their current state, Ann tried to think of a way to remedy that.

“W-Wanna take a shower? That’d feel so nice right about now…”

“Yes, that sounds goo- W-Wait, do you intend for us… to shower at the same time…?”

Despite the chills running through her body, hearing Makoto mention that made Ann’s heart beat quickly, and instantly warmed her chest.

“N-No, I wasn’t saying that! I… I mean, u-unless you want to…?”

The warmth in Ann’s chest was mirrored inside of Makoto’s own as she quickly found a spot on the wall to stare at as she thought of her response. 

“It… would be ill-advised for either of us to stay in such a cold state for too long, we could catch a cold or something… And it would help conserve water… … Although, it may be best, for… tonight… to keep our backs turned to one another..?”

Both of their hearts were beating rapidly, and each was afraid the other would hear just how anxious they were. Ann nodded in response to Makoto’s suggestion, and began talking towards one of the closed doors in the hall.

“Sure, that’s… a good compromise, it’s right in here…”

Ann pushed open the door, revealing a fairly nice looking bathroom which had a frosted sliding glass door for the shower, but something that was immediately obvious was her lack of organization - bottles and containers of various beauty products littered the area around the sink, and even a few on the floor. Stepping inside, Ann slid open the shower door, and got the water going hot, before stepping back, and then looking at Makoto. 

“Um… do you wanna… get in first? I promise I won’t look!”

Makoto’s cheeks flared red, but she hoped she could blame that on the cold rain instead of her excited heart.

“Sure, if you… insist…”

Ann quickly headed to the corner of the bathroom, and crossed her arms as she patiently waited! Once she was sure that Ann wasn’t looking, Makoto got close to the shower, and began to undress. Her clothes stuck to her skin due to the wetness, and rather than folding them up as she would normally do, she simply tossed them into a pile, the warmth radiating from the shower beckoning her in. Once completely free of her wet coverings, she crossed an arm over her chest, looked over her shoulder once more to make sure Ann was keeping her promise, quickly removed her hairband and placed it atop the pile of clothes, and finally took a step into the shower. Because Ann was in a rush to get all this set up, she hadn’t tested the temperature of the water, and when Makoto’s leg came in contact with the water, she let out a yelp at the overbearing heat of the water! Reacting to the yelp, Ann quickly turned out of instinct to check on her friend!

“Makoto, are you alr-”

Of course, Ann’s instincts didn’t take into account the whole reason that she had been turned away in the first place, and her eyes were met with the sight of the entirety of Makoto’s bare back, among… other things. For a moment, her eyes locked with Makoto, who was turning around in response to Ann’s inquiry, and the moment in which their eyes met felt as if it lasted forever. Ann was the first to turn away, her heart beating so fast that she needed to place her hand over her chest to make sure she didn’t have a heart attack! 

“I-I-I’m s-s-so sorry M-Makoto, I-I didn’t mean to…!”

Makoto felt as if she might die of embarrassment. She was not normally insecure about her body, but knowing what Ann had just seen, she now worried that it may not have been to the standards that Ann wanted… wait, what on earth was she thinking?!

“I-It’s a-alright, my… mistake…”

Trying to move past this awkward situation as fast as possible, Makoto reached in and twisted the knob to turn the heat down, and after letting that change take effect for a few seconds, she tentatively tested the water again before fully entering the shower and letting the warmth wash over her. When she finally got settled, she let out a shaky sigh of relief, something which let her realize that it had gotten quite hard to breathe in the previous few moments - placing a hand on her chest, she tried to steady her breathing with a focused breathing technique, but not even that worked right now!

“I… I am ready, if you…. Wish to come in as well…”

Through the murky glass, Makoto could see the shadowy outline of Ann as she did what Makoto had just done, and removed the wet clothes sticking to her. She tried to focus on simply enjoying the water and beginning to wash herself, but she couldn’t resist casting her eyes to the outline, her mind filling in the blanks with images that made her heart race! She quickly shook her head, trying to rid herself of these sorts of thoughts, but they were quite stubborn. She was brought back to attention when she saw the outline begin moving closer to her, and she quickly directed her eyes in front of her, hoping her staring wasn’t noticed.

“Can… Can I come in..?”

Ann’s voice was meek, the stinging embarrassment of the previous encounter still burning. 

“Y.. Yes, just… Please avoid looking as much as you can…”

Makoto stepped forward a bit, and a moment after, heard the sound of wet feet hitting the floor, alerting her to the fact that Ann had now entered, before the door to the shower also closed. Thankfully, as opposed to the complete silence of the previous times, the noise of the shower acted as white noise as they both were unable to figure out what to say, or what to do. Knowing she needed to do anything  _ but _ turn around, Makoto’s eyes began to idly scan the wall in front of her, before they landed upon the pile of bottles that lined the bottom rim of the shower - hair products, body washes, there seemed to be a container of every shape and size!

“Ann, why do you have so many… products in here?”

“Oh, um, my agency gives me some to try out and give a review on! Others I’ve just gotten as gifts and stuff. Sorry it’s a bit all over the place, I didn’t think we’d end up in here…”

The idle conversation helped to make both of them feel more at ease, but could only do so much.

“Do you have a recommendation on which one to use?”

“Let’s see…” 

Ann began turning around to look at the stracks of bottles, but as soon as she caught a glimpse of Makoto’s hand, she quickly turned her head back around, not wanting to make the mistake she’d made before. She quickly stiffened her back, and tried to think through the collection of products in her head.

“Try the one with… the red bottle? Yeah, the round red bottle, and I think… the green one that looks like a box? Those should make your hair feel great! And then the pink bottle with the silver cap, use that for body wash and your skin will feel amazing!”

Makoto knelt down and began to scour the mess of containers for the ones that Ann mentioned, finally managing to get all of them and putting them in a pile in front of her. As she slowly got back to her feet, her back brushed against something very soft, and her mind once again got filled with images of… things she never thought she would think about. She quickly finished standing up, and cleared her throat.

“S-Sorry about that.”

“It’s f-fine, it was just your back, right?”

“That’s correct…”

“T-Then yep, we’re totally fine..!”

This all but confirmed what Makoto thought she’d bumped into, but she kept her mouth shut as she began to lather up her hand with the hair products and rub it in, closing her eyes and letting out a content sigh. 

“I must agree, this conditioner and shampoo combination does feel quite good, and has a very pleasant scent, you’ll have to tell me where I can buy it at a later time.”

“You can just take those with you, if you want! I can totally just ask my agency for more.”

“Oh… thank you, I might take you up on that…”

Ann had always been a very kind soul, but given tonight’s events, it felt slightly more… special to receive something from Ann, even if this could barely be considered a real gift. After rinsing her hair, she began to apply the body wash to herself, and that was much more challenging than she would have expected in such close proximity to someone else. As she scrubbed herself, her elbows kept bumping into Ann, and after a few times of saying “Sorry”, they both just quietly dealt with it, and before too long, Makoto had finished everything she needed to, and now came… the next hard part. 

“How do you propose we… switch places…?”

Neither of them had really thought this part through…

“Uh.. I’ll… How about we each start turning to the right… when I count to three?”

“That sounds reasonable, on your count then.”

“Alright, on three then… One… two… three…!”

With the third number said, the girls began executing their plan, and it went… about as well as could be expected in such a narrow space, with little coordination. The two began moving with slightly different timings, and both assumed the other would give them more room, so the first thing they did was slightly bump into each other, before eventually hugging their respective walls, and awkwardly shuffling their feet. However, in the end, they did succeed through that struggle, and they each huffed a few breaths.

“Well, that… worked, I guess…”

“Indeed…”

Now that Makoto was on the side closest to the door, it dawned on her that she hadn’t consulted Ann for what their plan would be  _ after _ this escapade. 

“Um… Ann, I don’t exactly have a change of clothes, what should I..?”

“Oh, right! We’re kinda the same size, so just look through some of my clothes and put on ones that look comfy! Anything on the floor is dirty, so just pick from the closets- actually, the ones next to my bed are clean… Just uh… use your best judgement?”

“... Right…”

Makoto sounded exasperated as she said her last piece, but she slid open the shower door and stepped out onto the mat in front of it, closing the door as she left. While sliding the door back into place, she caught a look at Ann from behind, and quickly turned her head away, not wanting to stare, since she had been so adamant about requesting the same of Ann. However, the sight of Ann’s beautiful body was stuck in Makoto’s head, and there wasn’t going to be any way to get it out of there anytime soon. Trying to focus on something, anything else, she walked over, and began to dry herself off before walking out of the bathroom and into the primary part of Ann’s apartment once again. She had been too distracted by the cold wetness of their time in the rain to pay attention to it, but Ann’s apartment was… quite messy. The area which seemed to be designated as the living room had a small couch placed in front of a coffee table, along with a big TV on the other side of it. Even just in this living room area, there were some clothes haphazardly laying around on the door and on the back of the couch - if it was this bad out here, a worry grew in Makoto’s stomach for what she would find when she entered Ann’s bedroom. To find the bedroom, Makoto worked her way further into the apartment, and opened the doors she found along the way, and she managed to find the bedroom on her second attempt of trying a door, the first being the kitchen - much to Makoto’s surprise, she was mostly wrong in her assumption.

Ann’s bedroom was actually fairly well kept. In the area around her bed, there were a few miscellaneous articles of clothing lying around, and there was a similar pile in the far corner, but aside from those, the only notable mess was the overflowing pile of shoeboxes. For once, she was actually quite glad to be wrong - if Ann had ended up being messy, that would have been… an interesting conversation to have. Flicking the lightswitch she found next to the entrance, she went inside the room, and began examining the clothes hanging from the closets inset into the walls. She came across Ann’s school uniforms, as well as everything from jackets to dresses to sweaters and cardigans, and she couldn’t decide what she should choose, or rather, what would be comfortable. Thankfully, Ann had a number of clear plastic containers at the far side of her room which had more “normal” clothing, and on the opposite side of the room she noticed similarly styled containers for underwear as well. Ann had quite a… selection of underwear, so Makoto searched through to find the most typical pair she could find, and putting it on, slightly surprised as to how well it fit. She then went over to the other set of plastic containers, and pulled out a random shirt, one which happened to be a tank top. As for pants, it appeared that Ann only owned skirts… that is, until Makoto looked beneath where she had been standing, and found a few pairs of comfortable pants! While they weren’t really something she would wear normally, she was not in a position to be picky, so she slid on a pair of sweatpants which were much more comfortable than she thought they would be. A shiver ran through her body, and she realized that even though Ann had turned up the heat, the house was still quite cold, so she grabbed one of the hoodies which Ann had, and put that on over herself - unlike the rest of the clothes, this hoodie seemed to be a bit larger than Ann’s normal size, which struck Makoto as odd, and as such it was a little too big for her. She was very thankful that no one else could see her right now, but as much as she didn’t want to admit it, this was an incredibly comfortable and warm outfit, she could almost get used to it…

Around the time that Makoto finished getting dressed, the sound of a door opening echoed through the halls.

“Uh, Makoto? Where are you? I don’t want to run into you or scare you or anything.”

“Oh, I’m in your bedroom! Sorry, I will come out right away.”

She quickly made her way over to the door, before suddenly realizing that Ann would probably be lacking clothes just as she had been, so she had to devise a way to make sure she didn’t see anything Ann didn’t want her to! 

“... I’m going to cover my eyes when I come out, okay? Please let me know when you pass me so I know to open them again.”

After a brief glance at the floor to make sure her path would be unobstructed, Makoto tightly closed her eyes and walked forward about 10 steps before stopping. To make Ann feel even more assured, she brought her hands up and covered her face - a sweet scent emanated from the sleeves of the hoodie, making Makoto’s cheek dust with red for some reason.

“Is this enough room Ann..?”

When Ann stepped out of the bathroom and finally saw Makoto walk past, she had to do her best to stifle a laugh. Seeing the normally conservatively dressed Queen in sweatpants and a hoodie is  _ not _ something she thought she’d ever see, but this dichotomy made this specific outfit look 10x cuter than it normally would. Not wanting to leave her hanging too long, Ann quickly walked past Makoto and into her bedroom.

“I’ll just close the door, so you can open your eyes and um, just sit on the couch or something!”

With the clicking of the door mechanism ringing out, Makoto did as Ann said and removed her hands from her face, and looked around the room to find where the couch was again, and made her way over to it, taking a seat and laying her hands on her thighs while she idly waited for Ann to come out. She didn’t have to wait very long because it was only a couple minutes before Ann walked out of her room in a similar outfit to Makoto, but even in an outfit as casual as that, it seemed she had gone through the effort to color coordinate everything. Smiling, Ann made her way over to the couch, and flopped down next to Makoto, letting out a weary sigh. 

“Man, what a night, huh?”

“Indeed, many things have certainly… happened.”

Makoto took Ann’s cue and leaned back into the couch a bit, feeling the tension in her shoulders slowly start to fade. Seeing an opportunity, Ann scooted closer to her companion and faced her with a smile, and began to laugh a little.

“You know, I lay around the house in that hoodie, like, all the time, it’s soooooo comfy!”

Upon hearing this, Makoto suddenly realized why the scent of the hoodie had made her feel that way, it was Ann’s scent, and she just didn’t realize it! Her cheeks grew even redder as she began to take it off!

“M-My apologies, I didn’t know, you can have it back.”

Ann, however, quickly grabbed the inside edges of the hoodie and pulled them tight across Makoto’s chest, not allowing the girl to remove it!

“I never said you had to do that! You can keep wearing it, it’s totally fine! Plus, it looks  _ so _ cute on you~”

Both Ann’s words and actions stopped the other girl in her tracks, and she turned her head away from Ann with a small nod, relaxing herself slightly. With a smile, Ann took even more ground, and cuddled herself right up to Makoto’s side, and laid an arm over her chest, something which obviously set Makoto’s embarrassment meter off the charts. She shakily looked at the girl laying against her, and her voice shook a little as she spoke.

“A-A-Ann…?”

The ‘attacker’ didn’t respond with anything except a wink and sticking out her tongue, which showed Makoto she had no interest in moving, so Makoto was going to have to ‘deal’ with this touching. It felt very, very nice, but she was still getting used to experiencing these kinds of emotions, but, she supposed, there’s no better way to get more comfortable with it than to experience it more. To “train” herself on these feelings more, Makoto brought her left hand to her chest, and placed her hand on top of Ann’s, to which the other girl responded by interlocking their fingers, just as they had done earlier that night. Doing this made Makoto’s heart race, but in a way that made her feel incredibly happy, and as Ann ran her thumb along the back of Makoto’s hand, she felt even happier. The two enjoyed this feeling for a few minutes, with rain still pounding the window outside as they felt no compulsion to move.

Rather suddenly though, Ann perked up in her seat! 

“Oh, crap, I almost forgot!”

Makoto’s calm state was also abruptly disrupted by Ann’s outburst, and she sat up in shock.

“W-What is it Ann?”

Without a response, Ann ran back into her bedroom and Makoto could hear the sound of things being moved, before a triumphant cry rang out, and she ran back in. Ann held something behind her back and was smirking widely. 

“Close your eyes!”

Although she was extremely skeptical, and slightly worried about what this was, Makoto did as she was asked. A moment later, there was a small weight pressing into her lap.

“Now, op- wait!”

There was shuffling of feet, before the weight in Makoto’s lap increased slightly.

“Okay, NOW open your eyes!”

Upon opening her eyes, Makoto gasped sharply, and picked up what she assumed was the first object Ann had put down. In her hands, she held… a Buchimaru-kun cup!

“Ann…! How did you find this…?! These were a limited production item…!”

The gifter let out a small “Hee hee!” as she returned to her spot next to Makoto on the couch.

“I have my sources~ If we hadn’t made it this far tonight, I was going to just give it to you as a Christmas present, but here we are so… yeah!”

Looking past the cup, Makoto saw the other items Ann had retrieved: the bag of chocolates and the letter she’d seen in her bag earlier. Placing the cup down, she lifted up the envelope and started to open it before Ann placed her hand over Makoto’s, an awkward smile on her face. 

“C… Can you read that tomorrow, or something? I don’t think I could handle you reading it in front of me…”

Seeing that this was something which obviously meant alot to Ann, Makoto nodded, and placed it to the side, before she opened up the bag of chocolates and unwrapped one of them, placing it into her mouth and savoring the flavor.

“Ann, I-” She quickly chewed on the chocolate in her mouth and swallowed it, not wanting to talk with a full mouth, “I don’t know what to say, this is all so thoughtful, thank you so, so much… I’ll be sure to think of apt gifts I can give you in return.”

Giving Makoto’s arm a tight hug, Ann rested her head onto Makoto’s shoulder.

“You don’t have to worry about that! I got these as sort of a backup plan, just in case the dinner and stuff didn’t work out! But looks like I didn’t need to worry… So, thank  _ you _ Makoto.”

Placing the chocolates, cup, and letter off to the side of the couch, Makoto leaned her head onto Ann’s, and it felt as if nothing could ruin this moment.

That is, until the world went dark.

The lights that had previously been on in the apartment flashed off, and the almost imperceptible ambient noise generated by the house was gone as well. Terror shot up Makoto’s spine, and her head instantly stiffened to attention. 

“A-A-Ann? W-W-What’s going on?” 

Her voice quivered wildly, and her breathing began getting faster as well. 

“U-Uh, i-it looks like the power went out, p-probably because of the storm…”

Ann was much more composed than Makoto in this situation, a rare occurrence. 

“W-We should be fine in here though, I’m sure it’ll be fixed so-”

The wind and rain which had been whipping outside had steadily grown in ferocity, and slammed against the windows of Ann’s apartment loudly. Makoto’s body was shaking, and genuine fear coursed through her body as she used her other hand to tightly hold onto Ann’s arm, although this did little alleviate any of her terror. The storm grew even stronger by the second, and all of a sudden, one of the windows in Ann’s apartment flew open at the force of the wind, bringing with it a flurry of rain and gusts that were even louder without the protective shield of the windows. 

At this outburst, Makoto screamed loudly, and curled her knees into herself and hugged them in tightly with her hands, shaking all over as tears began to form in her eyes.

“Sis?!! W-W-Where are you?! I-I-I’m scared!!!!”

Makoto’s scream caught Ann off guard almost as much as the window opening. Since it was obvious that Makoto was out of commission, it was up to her to resolve the situation. Quickly hopping up off the couch, she held one arm in front of her face to try and shield her face and began making her way to the open window. The wind was really strong, and she had to fight pretty hard to not fall over, but she eventually reached the window, and used her non-shielding hand to grab the window and push it closed. The wind made it difficult to do that with one hand, so she used both of her hands to push the window back into its place, and with a final burst of effort, she managed to get it closed and lock it firmly, returning the apartment to its previous non-chaotic state.

Although that whole situation only took about 30 seconds to resolve, it felt like an eternity, and when Ann turned around from her work, she saw that Makoto was still on the couch, curled up, and sounds of whimpering and crying, along with some tear choked mumblings, came from the poor girl. Since the storm was still raging outside, Ann knew she had to do something to try and help her. Walking up to the Makoto-ball, Ann tried to shake the girl’s shoulder, but that proved ineffective. If moving her at the moment wouldn’t work, Ann would just have to do what she could on the couch. Quickly running into her bedroom, she retrieved her red comforter and dragged it behind her, and when she got to the couch, she crawled up onto it, while covering the both of them with the heavy blanket. 

“Makoto…? It’s okay, everything’s going to be okay…”

Her voice was quiet, soft, and she did her best to give the Makoto-ball a hug, though that was a bit difficult. The sudden warmth and softness covering her slightly roused Makoto from her paralyzing fear, and with tears in her eyes, she raised her head slightly, but still couldn’t see anything, and quickly lowered her head again.

“I-I-It’s so dark…! H-Help…”

Ann could feel she was losing this battle again, so she quickly pulled her phone from her pocket and turned on the flashlight, placing it on the couch with the flashlight facing up before gently rubbing Makoto’s back.

“L-Look, it’s not dark anymore Makoto!”

With a big sniffle of her now running nose, Makoto looked up again, and saw Ann’s concerned face illuminated by the flashlight, and she slowly began remembering what was going on. 

“O-Oh… A-Ann…” 

She felt tears beginning to well in her eyes again as she leaned herself forwards and wrapped her arms around Ann’s neck, hugging her tightly, and did not show any signs of letting go soon. Relief washed over Ann when Makoto hugged her, and she joyously hugged her arms behind Makoto’s back in return. 

“It’s okay Makoto, I’m here, I’m not going anywhere…”

The wind began picking up again, and Ann got concerned that the noise might start frightening Makoto again, so she gently reached down and picked up her phone, and kept the lit phone in her hand. 

“Can you walk…?”

A small nod of Makoto’s head was the response, so Ann kept her arms around Makoto as she slowly stood them both up, and then began walking them to her bedroom, still covered with the comforter. She had a pretty good idea of how it felt to move around in the dark in her apartment, but she still hit her leg into a few things before finally, she felt what she was hoping for: her bed. With some gentle guiding, she managed to sit both of them onto the bed, and it was now that Makoto finally released her grip from around Ann’s shoulders - she’d been holding on the entire walk over. By this point, Makoto had recovered enough that she was no longer crying, and with the bed underneath her she started to rub the tears from her eyes while Ann ducked out from under the blanket to lower the blinds on both her windows, and shut the door. Making her way back, she placed her phone, flashlight up, on the nightstand at the top of her bed before slowly pulling the blanket off of Makoto. The girl still rubbed her eyes for a moment, but now looked more flustered than anything.

“You doing alright..?”

Ann sat next to Makoto on the bed, looking at her with concern, which made the previously tearful girl feel incredibly guilty.

“Yes… I’m… I’m very sorry for all of that…”

Ann leaned in close, and hugged Makoto from the side.

“Hey, don’t be sorry! It was definitely spooky, I nearly jumped off the couch when that window flew open… You wanna lay down?”

Breaking apart for a moment, Makoto crawled towards the center of the bed and Ann followed while dragging the big blanket with her, and a moment later the two were horizontal, covered by the blanket, and looking at each other. Ann gave a warm smile while looking at Makoto, who felt her heart jump at the sight, even if she could barely see it in the dark.

“Ann, I… thank you for everything tonight.”

“It’s too bad we had to go through that storm and all, but thank  _ you _ for coming! … And for… saying yes~ Actually, I guess you never  _ exactly _ said yes…”

“Said yes to what?”

Ann scooted closer, close enough that they could feel each other’s heat, and their hot breaths passed over one another’s faces.

“... Will you be my girlfriend?”

Makoto’s entire body felt warm, hot even, and her entire focus was on the beautiful girl in front of her, and the warm, fuzzy feeling in the top of her chest.

“... Yes, of course I will Ann… I hope you will… be mine as well…?”

The elicited a cute giggle from her companion, “Well duh, that’s kinda how it works! But yes, of course  _ I _ will~”

Both of their faces shone with smiles, and even in the dark they could be described as blinding. The next moment, Ann slid her hands into Makoto’s hoodie, and wrapped them around the base of her back. Before Makoto could even register this feeling, Ann brought the rest of her body in close, and pushed her lips against Makoto’s. Time seemed to stand still for them, and in that one moment, they felt more connected than they ever had. Makoto took in every sensation, the softness of Ann’s lips, the tender way her hands were placed on her back, the soft touching of their legs, she took it in as deeply as she could, for she feared she would wake up from a dream any second now. These feelings were more than she could have ever hoped for in a moment like this, and it was surely one of the happiest moments of her life. 

Her dream was broken by Ann pulling her face away slowly, and Makoto attempted to push her head forward to form the kiss again, but Ann brought up her hand from Makoto’s back and placed a finger on her lips. The kiss-desiring girl let out a small whine, unintentionally, and her face held a pout. With a sly grin, Ann removed her other hand and… rolled over? 

“A-Ann…?”

Makoto was terribly confused, had she done something wrong, what she… a bad kisser..?

“We have school tomorrow, right? We should probably get to sleep~”

The crushing weight of realization hit Makoto like a truck, and she winced.

“Y… You are right… We should leave early so that I can stop by my house, if that can fit into your schedule.”

“Mhmm! Of course! Good night Makoto!”

“G-Good night Ann…”

In a small and daring action, Makoto scooted forward and wrapped a hand around Ann’s waist before the anxiety of the night, and the overwhelming myriad of emotions she’d felt led her to fall quickly asleep, although her lips still held a smile as she drifted away.

In actuality, Ann  _ really _ wanted to kiss Makoto more, but the teasing side of her wanted to leave Makoto waiting, because next time, she would not be holding back at all. Of course they did actually have to worry about school the next day, but that was a secondary motive used to disguise her true one. Reaching over and turning off the flashlight on her phone, she placed her hands over the ones wrapped around her waist, she fell into a deep sleep, one filled with many happy dreams.

The blissful sleeps of the two girls were rudely interrupted by the sound of Ann’s alarm going off, an unwelcome return to reality. Makoto rose up first, and yawned, before shaking Ann’s shoulder.

“Ann, hurry up, we need to go quickly this morning…”

Her dreams had been filled with replays of the previous night, so Makoto was surprisingly composed when waking up in this abnormal situation. Ann groggily tried hugging more blankets to herself before slowly sitting up and yawning loudly.

“Mmm… I was having such a nice dream too… Oh, and hi Makoto...~”

A smile formed on Ann’s lips as she leaned over and kissed Makoto’s cheek.

“I could definitely get used to waking up like this…~”

To Ann’s surprise, Makoto actually leaned in towards her, and tenderly kissed her cheek as well! It was obvious from the look on her face she was still quite unaccustomed to doing something like that. 

“I… I must agree, that was… quite nice… We should get going as soon as possible, trains are the most chaotic on Monday mornings.”

The pair got out of bed, and while Ann began putting on her uniform, Makoto went to retrieve her clothes from yesterday which she left in the bathroom. Those clothes were unfortunately still wet, so she waited until Ann was finished changing to go into the bedroom and look for something which would be an effective stopgap until they arrived at her house. Thankfully, Ann had a number of uniform sets, so Makoto simply put on as much as she could which was similar between their outfits, before stepping outside, where Ann was just finishing up her prep.

“Ready to go Makoto?”

She held out a hand and smiled purely. Seeing Ann standing there, the person she could now call… her girlfriend, Makoto was slightly awestruck. A relationship had never been top of mind for her, but without realizing it, she’d stumbled into one, and although she only had one night’s worth of experience with it, the happiness that it would bring would surely be more than she ever could have hoped for. There would definitely be a few… awkward conversations along the way, but unlike her past self, Makoto was not going to let her worries about others’ perceptions get in the way of doing what she wanted to do with her life. Reaching out her hand, she took the outstretched hand with a wide smile, and took the first steps into a beautiful new chapter of her life. What happened last night was something she never saw coming, but now, the memories created there are something she would never be able to forget.


End file.
